Rick Astley Covers Foo Fighters In Manchester

9/12/2017 6:31 PM ET

Rick Astley appeared at the recent reopening gig of the Manchester Arena in the U.K. and treated fans to a cover of the Foo Fighters' classic "Everlong." Though it may be an unexpected choice for some fans, the 1980s hitmaker recently became fast friends with Dave Grohl and company.

The pair connected over the summer at the Supersonic Festival in Japan and performed a cover of Astley's classic "Never Gonna Give You Up" re-harmonized with the chord changes to the Nirvana classic "Smells Like Teen Spirit."

The Foo Fighters have been avowed Astley fans for years, and even used his music to protest the Westboro Baptist Church hate group. The group was protesting a Foo Fighters concert in 2015 when the band responded by employing a flatbed truck packed with high power PA equipment "rick rolling" the group with "Never Gonna Give You Up" on repeat and drowning out their chants.